Top 10: Notorious Prisons

Number 5

Nairobi Prison

Kenya, Africa

Description: It’s maybe the most congested prison in Kenya, with 3,800 prisoners inhabiting a prison designed for only 800. Added to that, 250 short-term prisoners are confined to a room designed for 50. They lack everything from mattresses to decent medical assistance to clothing — many inmates are nearly naked and are constantly sweating from the heat and overpopulation. The prison is home to nationals of other countries as well, and Nigerian prisoner Colin Alexander states, “We are surviving by the grace of God. I don’t think any human being can survive here.”

The worst part: This kind of overcrowding leads to a lack of proper medical attention, sustenance and general assistance. It also turns the prison into a breeding ground for countless diseases, and the unsanitary conditions only magnify the problem. The prison is finally catching a break after the end of former President Moi’s rule.

Number 4

Tadmor military prison

Syria, Asia

Description: Syrian poet, and five-year inmate, Faraj Beraqdar, described Tadmor military prison as, “The kingdom of death and madness.” Tadmor is known for its outrageous torture, its executions and for one of the biggest prison massacres in world history. On June 27, 1980, commando forces from the Defense Brigades savagely murdered an estimated 500 prisoners. One day, after a failed assassination attempt on Damascus President Hafez al-Asad, the commandos arrived at the jail via helicopter and proceeded to kill the inmates in their dormitories.

The worst part: In a word — torture. The methods used are medieval in nature: Some inmates were killed by the sharp end of an ax and cut into parts, others were roped and dragged to death and still others were brutally beaten by metal pipes. These torture victims consisted of both the guilty and the innocent, and were often randomly selected.

Number 3

La Sante prison

Paris, France

Description: You know that you’re in a bad place when you get so depressed or insane that you begin swallowing drain cleaner and rat poison to escape. With 124 suicides in 1999 — compared to 24 in California’s jail population of 160,000 — La Sante has remained a place of violence, depravity, and brutality, where the weaker prisoners are often turned into slaves. Inmates only spend four hours a day outside of their cells and those with prison-jobs usually work in their cells, which are only 30 square feet with tiny peepholes in the solid metal doors.

The worst part: According to Dr. Veronique Vasseur, a prison doctor, there have been numerous instances of intense abuse. Dozens of inmates are affected with skin disease due to having access to only two showers per week. The guards have kept prisoners with lung disease in poorly ventilated cells that are next to humid laundry rooms. There’s an instance where eight guards tried to hold a prisoner to administer a shot, and when he retaliated, he injured several guards. He was thrown into the punishment block and, 15 days later, he was found severely dehydrated because the guards had cut off the water pipes to his cell.

If you travel to Brazil, you may want to stay away from any trouble in the streets…